A Padawan Is For Life
by RoverGirl
Summary: Flash Fic. Set sometime during The Clone Wars. Obi-Wan Kenobi tends to Anakin's injuries after 'one of those' encounters.


This is a fan written non-profit story. Please Rate & Review.

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"You do manage to get yourself into some right messes, Anakin," Obi-Wan chuckled.

Anakin grimaced as his former master pulled yet another small organic spike out of his rash covered back.

Obi-Wan placed it in a silver kidney dish along with the other thirty-two identical translucent blue tinged spikes.

The knight was glad they had the privacy of Obi-Wan's quarters on board the mighty Republican cruiser to sort this out and that Ahsoka was on a completely different mission back at Coruscant!

"You really should try watching your back more often," the older man continued to lecture him, pulling out another of the spikes.

Anakin yelped in pain, jerking upwards.

"Is there any more, Master?" Anakin asked pathetically, wincing as another one of the annoyances dug in further.

Obi-Wan sighed and nodded before pushing Anakin back down gently onto the bed.

"I'd say so," Obi-Wan replied.

"Just how many?" Anakin asked into the pillow he'd buried his face in.

"About half a dozen," Obi-Wan admitted.

"'About half a dozen'?" Anakin repeated, sitting up again, "all I did was fall on that plant!" he protested.

"And it took a dislike to you, now lie back down, Anakin. The sooner we finish, the sooner I can apply the balm to help against the venom and-"

"Those things are venomous?!" Anakin near-cried.

Obi-Wan gave him a quizzical look, trying to hide his bemusement at Anakin's response and failing.

"Did you actually _look_ at the data I gave you before we touched down?"

"Of course I did!" Anakin huffed.

Obi-Wan cocked an eyebrow and Anakin's face fell.

"Just not the bit about that plant."

Obi-Wan chuckled.

"Back on your front, Anakin," he told his former charge, "you'll soon be able to contact Ahsoka and behave like nothing ever happened."

Anakin lay back down, resting his head in the large white pillow he'd been provided with by Rex from somewhere.

Obi-Wan yanked out another spike and Anakin near screamed!

"Sorry, I'll apply more of the analgesic cream," Obi-Wan told him, reaching for the small blue tub beside him.

"Leave it, please just get those things outta me quickly, Master," Anakin muttered, then bit the pillow in frustration.

"Just five more left, Anakin," Obi-Wan assured him, quickly pulling another spike out and electing another near scream from Anakin.

"Why did those two hurt so much more than the others, Master?" Anakin yelled into the pillow.

"Because the venom is starting to take effect."

Anakin groaned.

"Don't worry about, Anakin, you won't suffer extreme symptoms. Fortunately you fell on an adult plant. The venom is far less aggressive, and you were given the anti-venom before we left."

Obi-Wan felt Anakin poke their training bond in annoyance and he smiled.

Even though Anakin was no longer his student, the bond between them was still very strong and it certainly had it uses, though Obi-Wan was never one for spying, letting Anakin have his privacy and vice versa. It had certainly proven useful in battle, helping them to find each other, help heal each other and in times of hardship it helped them to relax.

Obi-Wan had to fidget the next spike out. He knew it was going to hurt a lot more than the previous two put together.

He sent a wave of calm over the bond and tried to lull Anakin into a false sense of security, knowing full well he would incur Anakin's wrath tenfold. The little trick worked as Anakin relaxed.

He pulled the spike out and sure enough Anakin's fists gripped fistfuls of mattress and he screamed into his pillow.

Obi-Wan quickly began healing that particular spot and lessened the pain to a bearable level.

Anakin let go off the pillow, gasping for breath.

"Thanks, Master," he gasped, his voice shaky.

"You're welcome, Anakin. Just two left now," he assured his old padawan.

"You sure, Master?" Anakin asked.

"Yep."

"Feels like a hundred."

Obi-Wan couldn't hide a small chuckle; Anakin always was one for exaggerating. And he'd passed the skill onto Ahsoka brilliantly.

Obi-Wan could feel Anakin mentally brace himself for the next spike removal.

The last two were pretty close together by Anakin's left shoulder. They would hurt.

He grasped both of them gently yet firm, noting how Anakin's skin had gone a blotchy red and the rash on his back from the initial contact was all over his shoulders, neck and around his sides with some of the spike pricks oozing a bright blue goo mixed with blood. He had to work fast or Anakin would be agony all over and he couldn't bear to tell Anakin what happened if the rash reached his groin...the environmental minister of the planet in the outer rim they'd visited had been all to happy to tell Obi-Wan the gory details...

Sending another calming wave over the bond, Obi-Wan banished the thoughts from his mind and quickly yanked the last two spikes out.

Anakin screamed loud and clear, throwing his head back in agony, every muscle contorting in agony.

Obi-Wan dropped them in the kidney dish as Anakin collapsed, his head buried in the pillow. Obi-Wan could hear him gasping and quickly moved Anakin's head to the side so he could take clear deep breaths.

"I think the whole ship heard you," Obi-Wan told him with a wry smile.

He frowned.

There was smudged fresh blood on Anakin's chin and lip.

The younger man had bitten his bottom lip. Hard.

Obi-Wan went to roll him over onto his side but Anakin stopped him.

"Anakin, I got both spikes out," he told him, knowing instantly why Anakin had stopped him, "now let me have a look at your lip."

Obi-Wan noticed the blood on the pillow, grabbed both of his, removed the bloodied one from under Anakin and replaced it with the two clean ones.

"That's better," Obi-Wan told him, ditching the pillow on the floor.

He went to the fresher, picked up a dark blue face cloth, soaked it under the cold tap then went back to Anakin who had remained on his side, gasping hard for breath.

With all the spikes removed, Obi-Wan knew the young man's back would be stinging beyond belief.

He quickly cleaned the younger man's face, tending to his lip and silently noting the sweat that had drenched him brought on by the shock from the venom.

"It's okay, Anakin. It's all over now," he reassured him again, "I'm going to apply the gel, that'll make the pain go away then you can have a nice long nap. I'll contact the Temple, don't worry about that."

Obi-Wan picked up the large tub of green translucent gel off of the bedside table and took the lid off as he went round the other side of the bed. He placed some on his fingers and began applying it to Anakin's sore stinging back.

Anakin gasped and began to shiver.

"That's cold, Master!" Anakin protested between chattering teeth.

Obi-Wan rolled him back onto his front.

"That's a good thing, Anakin," Obi-Wan told him, once again using the bond to calm him.

Obi-Wan continued to apply the gel, spreading it thinly as per instructed by the doctor who saw Anakin prior to them leaving.

The young knight had been reluctant to let him treat his injuries after seeing the nurses at the hospital...

Obi-Wan quickly finished up, put the lid back on the anti-venom gel and put the lid and back on, and applied a strong layer of the analgesic cream. He'd been assured that the gel wouldn't react with any other medication. Using the dressings he'd been given, Obi-Wan bandaged Anakin's back up to keep out anything that could disrupt the healing process.

"All done, Anakin, you should be free from venom in a couple of hours," Obi-Wan told him.

"'Should be'?" Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow as he let Obi-Wan gently roll him onto his back.

"That's what the doctor said,"Obi-Wan replied.

"And you believed him, Master?"

"Afraid so," he replied with a nod of his head and a smirk set in place.

Anakin hadn't seen that particular smirk in a few years.

"And what am I supposed to do for the next two hours?" he asked, then mentally kicked himself.

Stupid question. This was Obi-Wan, his former master, he was talking to.

"Stay here and rest," Obi-Wan ordered, "no tinkering, no getting up."

"But-"

"And I'm staying right here."

Obi-Wan pulled up the chair in the room next to Anakin's bed, sat down and crossed him arms, looking at his former padawan with a mixture of bemusement and bossiness.

Anakin hadn't seen that expression in a good few years either! And he quickly remembered what he disliked it as a padawan.

"Seriously, Master?" Anakin asked.

"Do I look like I don't know you?" Obi-Wan replied.

"Can't you just knock me out or something?" Anakin asked in desperation.

"Now there's a thought," Obi-Wan replied, enlightened.

Anakin's eyes went wide in disbelief as Obi-Wan swept his hand over his face, giving a force suggestion to sleep.

Obi-Wan smirked as he watched Anakin briefly fight it but then lose the fight. He remembered fondly the other occasions he'd had to do this. It always began the same way, it always ended the same way. Even now.

Making sure that Anakin firmly asleep, he stripped Anakin of his boots and the remainder of his armour then repositioned the pillows to support his neck, moved the tubs to the bedside table and moved the kidney disk of spikes to the bathroom, then threw a blanket over the top of Anakin's sleeping form.

He may have been a fully fledged knight, but when it came down to it, he would always still be Obi-Wan's padawan and Obi-Wan knew the old habits would never truly die.

He gently brushed a hand across Anakin's face as he checked the bond, altering Anakin's dreams a little to make them more pleasant.

"Sweet dreams, Anakin," he told him.

He then left for the bridge to make contact with the rest of the Jedi Council and report.

END


End file.
